On Tuesday night we got on an overnight bus to Arequipa, and were met in the morning at the bus terminal to start our 2 day tour of the Colca Canyon. I think in my mind I was expecting it to be something like our jeep tour, a sort of rough ride through some amazing views.. But it really wasn't: we were with some other Peruvians, squished into a small minibus, which did some stops are small towns where we'd get out of the van, stay for 10 minutes, take a photo, have lots of people offering us things to buy, get back in the van, get out again half an hour later... It's nothing against these pueblitos or the people, it just gets kind of frustrating, especially when you've seen quite a few on the road already and really just want to see the Canyon.
We stayed at a hostel in Chivay on Wednesday night - I didn't mention that our overnight bus had no heating so we had a pretty terrible ride, so we skipped the evening activity of dinner and watching local dancing to catch up on sleep.
The next morning we set out early for La Cruz del Condor, a spot on the Canyon where lots of Condors hang out (also is Chile's national bird). That was pretty cool. There were loads, and very close. Adult and kid birds practicing their flying right by us. Was a bit of a shame though because we really got no scale of the Canyon itself which is 100km long and goes down to 3km deep.
We arrived back in Arequipa and that night our group split, as Phil and I took another overnight bus to Tacna, the Peruvian border town with Chile, and Dais and Rachel stayed on as they've got a few more days before heading back to Santiago.
In the morning on Friday Phil and I crossed back into Chile, which was painless, no queues at all, although we had a really friendly / mildly terrifying passport checking lady. Arrived at Arica and whiled away a day until another night bus to Calama - where our journey all began.
Calama is the town that the Lonely Planet called 'a shithole', so we were expecting a day even more horrific than the one before, but we had less time and ended up going to the cinema so it was fine. Got a flight back to Santiago last night, went back to the hostel where Laura and I stayed 3 weeks ago and thank God my luggage was all still there! Packed up this morning, having lunch with Phil in a bit, and starting my Delta flights home tonight! One day in Atlanta tomorrow and I'm back Tuesday morning.
It is so freaking weird that it's all over now, everything we planned and talked about for so long... I'm definitely ready to come home, and also so grateful I didn't have to come back straight after saying all my goodbyes in Viña either.
So, I suppose this is my last blog from this year abroad..!
Photos will be coming up next..........
Lots of love! XOX
Sunday, 26 June 2011
Tuesday, 21 June 2011
cusco + machu picchu
Cusco is a really lovely city; although very much a tourist place in terms of street vendors and dodgily translated menus for pricey restaurants, Cusco was the capital of the Inca empire, and we arrived in the run up to the Winter Solstice (which is today) a huge Inca festival in celebration of the Sun called Inti Raymi, so there's been a lot going on here.
We stayed two days here, mainly wandering about and catching up on sleep. A notable visit was to Qoricancha, the remains of the temple of the Sun here in town - the workmanship was absolutely astonishing, and the mix between the Inca ruins and the Catholic church and convent that had been built on top of it was quite something.
On Saturday we began a two day tour - day 1 seeing some of the Sacred Valley, then a train to Aguas Calientes, otherwise known as the Machu Picchu town, to go and see Machu Picchu the second day.
In the Sacred Valley we visited two amazing places. The first, Pisaq, had some pre-Inca remains too, and also has the largest Inca burial ground, where what must be thousands of important people were mummified and buried into the side of the mountain in their own personal tombs. The second was Ollantaytambo, an original Inca town, amazingly well preserved and still in use today, and had the beginnings of the construction of a Sun Temple up one of the mountains where the people brought enormous rocks from the mines 8 miles away on the other side of another mountain.
The hour and 45 train to Aguas Calientes felt novel for about ten minutes but then was annoyingly slow and jolty, especially considering the hefty 80 USD return price. We went to bed at 9pm to be up the next day at 3.20am, and did pretty well with the early start, managing to get on th 2nd bus up to Machu Picchu at 5.30am when they start the service.
It's difficult to arrive at Machu Picchu without a preconceived idea of what it will be like, especially when everyone seems to take the same one photo of it. Thankfully, it was genuinely amazing, so well preserved and complete. We had a two hour tour round with our guide, before we started our climb up Wayna Picchu, the mountain behind the town in all the photos you see. Daisy got her stamina on and managed the climb in half an hour, while Rach, Phil and I took it slowly in over an hour. We were on the shade side of the mountain, thank God, otherwise the heat alone would have killed us. The whole path is stairs, but some of them are ridiculously steep, or narrow, or uneven, or rocks with holes carved into them. There was one section on the way down where I just went on my bum like a small child. Absolutely worth it though, the views were overwhelming and the climb was good fun too.
Arrived back in Cusco that night, Sunday, absolutely shattered. Yesterday we had a lazy one and watched a few films... Making the most of our nice hostel before we start another journey tonight - this time an overnight bus to Arquipa, getting picked up straight from the bus terminal to start a 2 day tour of the Colca Canyon, at the end of which we'll be getting another overnight bus to the border with Chile to start the return journey.
Home in one week!
Lots of love
XOX
We stayed two days here, mainly wandering about and catching up on sleep. A notable visit was to Qoricancha, the remains of the temple of the Sun here in town - the workmanship was absolutely astonishing, and the mix between the Inca ruins and the Catholic church and convent that had been built on top of it was quite something.
On Saturday we began a two day tour - day 1 seeing some of the Sacred Valley, then a train to Aguas Calientes, otherwise known as the Machu Picchu town, to go and see Machu Picchu the second day.
In the Sacred Valley we visited two amazing places. The first, Pisaq, had some pre-Inca remains too, and also has the largest Inca burial ground, where what must be thousands of important people were mummified and buried into the side of the mountain in their own personal tombs. The second was Ollantaytambo, an original Inca town, amazingly well preserved and still in use today, and had the beginnings of the construction of a Sun Temple up one of the mountains where the people brought enormous rocks from the mines 8 miles away on the other side of another mountain.
The hour and 45 train to Aguas Calientes felt novel for about ten minutes but then was annoyingly slow and jolty, especially considering the hefty 80 USD return price. We went to bed at 9pm to be up the next day at 3.20am, and did pretty well with the early start, managing to get on th 2nd bus up to Machu Picchu at 5.30am when they start the service.
It's difficult to arrive at Machu Picchu without a preconceived idea of what it will be like, especially when everyone seems to take the same one photo of it. Thankfully, it was genuinely amazing, so well preserved and complete. We had a two hour tour round with our guide, before we started our climb up Wayna Picchu, the mountain behind the town in all the photos you see. Daisy got her stamina on and managed the climb in half an hour, while Rach, Phil and I took it slowly in over an hour. We were on the shade side of the mountain, thank God, otherwise the heat alone would have killed us. The whole path is stairs, but some of them are ridiculously steep, or narrow, or uneven, or rocks with holes carved into them. There was one section on the way down where I just went on my bum like a small child. Absolutely worth it though, the views were overwhelming and the climb was good fun too.
Arrived back in Cusco that night, Sunday, absolutely shattered. Yesterday we had a lazy one and watched a few films... Making the most of our nice hostel before we start another journey tonight - this time an overnight bus to Arquipa, getting picked up straight from the bus terminal to start a 2 day tour of the Colca Canyon, at the end of which we'll be getting another overnight bus to the border with Chile to start the return journey.
Home in one week!
Lots of love
XOX
crossing the border
The day we were due to cross over into Peru we arrived at the bus company's office to find out that the road from Puno to Cusco (both on the Peruvian side) was blockaded, and that the bus would only be able to take us as far as Puno. We figured that was fine, at least we'd be in Peru, and we got some money back from our ticket.
The back story is that in the high plateau region of both Bolivia and Peru there are a lot of things worth mining, particularly silver, and lately a Canadian company either tried to or already has been mining in the area, something which the local people are very much against. This is because the environmental affects on the area from the mining can be disastrous, and apparently a lot of these mining companies also do things illegally, which makes it worse. The people don't really have a voice, especially at the moment because they have just voted in a new president who I think starts his term in just under a month, and so no one is taking any notice to the problem. So in order to get the attention they think it deserves they have claimed the streets as their own and blocked them with rocks and their own presence.
Practically speaking it means that any vehicles using these roads have to try and talk the locals into letting them pass, often involving a cash bribe, but this isn't always the case. Sometimes they just won't let you pass. In other occasions if the bus doesn't pay enough the people will throw rocks at the bus, until they either pay up or leave.
Back to our story: we got in our bus which crossed the border with no problem, it's only about 20 mins from Copacabana. We drove for about another 15 mins before we came across small rocks across the road, and our driver basically turned the bus around and said "They've extended the blockade, there's no way through, I can't take responsibility for what happens if we go through because it'll be too dangerous so I'm going back. Make your own way.", which left us pretty scared to say the least.
We got back to the border, annuled our entry to Peru, reentered Bolivia and decided to go back with the bus to Copacabana to work out a new plan. Meanwhile, the rest of uor bus managed to get on a Peruvian bus that was arriving into Copacabana from Puno and was about to do the return journey. So when we got into Copacabana we went to the office of the same company and managed to get 4 seats on a bus load heading that way, which was a private tour. The driver was totally chilled about it, and said maybe our driver had freaked out because he didn't know how to handle it, and didn't want to risk his bus either. So we set off an hour later, left Bolivia and entered Peru, again (we have 6 passport stamps from the 15th June, and were told not to come back to Bolivia!), and headed to Puno. We had two detours, and the journey ended up being I think 5 hours long instead of an hour and a half, but I didn't feel in danger at any point.
It's not ideal for the people nor for us from the sense that the tourism is incredibly important to Peru's income, and hindering people coming in is never a good thing, but I get the impression that there really is nothing else the people can do to get attention for the cause.
We took an overnight bus from Puno to Cusco that same evening, arriving here at 9am the following day.
I need to check out of this hostel now - Machu Picchu tales coming asap.
XO
The back story is that in the high plateau region of both Bolivia and Peru there are a lot of things worth mining, particularly silver, and lately a Canadian company either tried to or already has been mining in the area, something which the local people are very much against. This is because the environmental affects on the area from the mining can be disastrous, and apparently a lot of these mining companies also do things illegally, which makes it worse. The people don't really have a voice, especially at the moment because they have just voted in a new president who I think starts his term in just under a month, and so no one is taking any notice to the problem. So in order to get the attention they think it deserves they have claimed the streets as their own and blocked them with rocks and their own presence.
Practically speaking it means that any vehicles using these roads have to try and talk the locals into letting them pass, often involving a cash bribe, but this isn't always the case. Sometimes they just won't let you pass. In other occasions if the bus doesn't pay enough the people will throw rocks at the bus, until they either pay up or leave.
Back to our story: we got in our bus which crossed the border with no problem, it's only about 20 mins from Copacabana. We drove for about another 15 mins before we came across small rocks across the road, and our driver basically turned the bus around and said "They've extended the blockade, there's no way through, I can't take responsibility for what happens if we go through because it'll be too dangerous so I'm going back. Make your own way.", which left us pretty scared to say the least.
We got back to the border, annuled our entry to Peru, reentered Bolivia and decided to go back with the bus to Copacabana to work out a new plan. Meanwhile, the rest of uor bus managed to get on a Peruvian bus that was arriving into Copacabana from Puno and was about to do the return journey. So when we got into Copacabana we went to the office of the same company and managed to get 4 seats on a bus load heading that way, which was a private tour. The driver was totally chilled about it, and said maybe our driver had freaked out because he didn't know how to handle it, and didn't want to risk his bus either. So we set off an hour later, left Bolivia and entered Peru, again (we have 6 passport stamps from the 15th June, and were told not to come back to Bolivia!), and headed to Puno. We had two detours, and the journey ended up being I think 5 hours long instead of an hour and a half, but I didn't feel in danger at any point.
It's not ideal for the people nor for us from the sense that the tourism is incredibly important to Peru's income, and hindering people coming in is never a good thing, but I get the impression that there really is nothing else the people can do to get attention for the cause.
We took an overnight bus from Puno to Cusco that same evening, arriving here at 9am the following day.
I need to check out of this hostel now - Machu Picchu tales coming asap.
XO
Tuesday, 14 June 2011
la paz and copacabana, lake titicaca
The rest of our time in La Paz was fairly city-break-y; we went to the markets and even tried some museums, which were slightly disappointing - we were most excited about the Museo Litoral which is about the war Bolivia and Peru had with Chile which Chile won and left Bolivia without access to the sea, something that is still very much discussed now, but the 'museum' was literally just one room, with the phrase "The sea is our right, and it is a necessity that we get it back" in huge letters on the wall, with some sketchy information on the wall next to it and the rest of the room was just photos from the war. However, at less than 50p for entrance to 4 museums I suppose we couldn't really complain!
On our last day we went to the Witches' market which was quite something... It made me feel really uneasy, frankly. It was a mix of tourist stalls selling alpaca merchandise and others selling remedies for all sorts of things and, most notably, llama carcasses, in tact, some of them foetuses. It was quite unnerving. Apparently they bring good luck and people build their houses on top of them.
We ate a great arabian lunch, but unfortunately we got funny tums from it that night, especially Daisy, but we managed the 4 hour bus journey to Copacabana alright, only to eat something funny that night and have me and Rachel up all night once there. So needless to say we've been taking it pretty easy, which Copacabana has helped with as there isn't much to do. The most exciting thing about the place was really the drive here which was absolutely incredible. The views were just insane - rural pastures, the immensely huge lake, snow capped mountains in the distance, and the moon in full view during the clear afternoon.
Today we went to the Sun Island, where the locals believe the Sun was born, but we only had 50minutes on the island itself so didn't do much. Annoying as the journey was an hour and a half each way and we had no idea we'd have so little time. Again, can't complain really as the boat tickets were a pound fifty each.
Tomorrow we're driving to Cusco, Peru, via Puno. We're leaving at 8.45am and meant to be arriving in Cusco at 7pm... Long journey! Hoping the border is alright as it's been problematic for over a month now...
Home in 2 weeks! Until Peru...
XO
On our last day we went to the Witches' market which was quite something... It made me feel really uneasy, frankly. It was a mix of tourist stalls selling alpaca merchandise and others selling remedies for all sorts of things and, most notably, llama carcasses, in tact, some of them foetuses. It was quite unnerving. Apparently they bring good luck and people build their houses on top of them.
We ate a great arabian lunch, but unfortunately we got funny tums from it that night, especially Daisy, but we managed the 4 hour bus journey to Copacabana alright, only to eat something funny that night and have me and Rachel up all night once there. So needless to say we've been taking it pretty easy, which Copacabana has helped with as there isn't much to do. The most exciting thing about the place was really the drive here which was absolutely incredible. The views were just insane - rural pastures, the immensely huge lake, snow capped mountains in the distance, and the moon in full view during the clear afternoon.
Today we went to the Sun Island, where the locals believe the Sun was born, but we only had 50minutes on the island itself so didn't do much. Annoying as the journey was an hour and a half each way and we had no idea we'd have so little time. Again, can't complain really as the boat tickets were a pound fifty each.
Tomorrow we're driving to Cusco, Peru, via Puno. We're leaving at 8.45am and meant to be arriving in Cusco at 7pm... Long journey! Hoping the border is alright as it's been problematic for over a month now...
Home in 2 weeks! Until Peru...
XO
Friday, 10 June 2011
jeep tour
Our last days in San Pedro included swimming in a salt lagoon, pisco watching the sunset, cycling around the desert, and missing the infamous astronomy tour due to bad weather.
On Monday morning we got picked up in a minibus for the beginning of our jeep tour to the Uyuni salt flat
(Bolivia). Crossing the border was almost a joke it was so informal. I didn´t even have my photo page checked at the Bolivian side. We rose to 5000m altitude within an hour of being in the jeep across the border, and stopped at the White Lagoon, Green Lagoon, and Red Lagoon (their names say it all), as well as taking a dip in a rather toasty thermal spring. The wind was insanely strong due to change of seasons, meaning it was about -8
degrees celsius outside the jeep.
Our hostel on the first night was the most basic thing imaginable, without even running water, ie. no flushing toilets, but our group of 12 bonded over card games of cheat, a bottle of rum for the cold, and in the morning the shared expeience of a bad night's sleep.
Day 2 featured the stone tree, more lagoons, this time not so excitingly coloured, and a notable pitstop for photos of the active volcano Ollague. I hesistantly asked the driver if we were going any closer to the volcano, bearing in mind the very recent eruptions in the South of Chile, to which he replied "no way,it's active!", thank God... The landscape was absolutely amazing though; an eruption had left some incredible wave like formations of lava.
Our second hostel was much more bearable, with a very lovely meal (and running water!), and after a much better rest we spent our final day mostly on the salt flat, Salar de Uyuni.
It was just awesome. Genuinely felt as though we were on another planet. Our guidebook said the salar spanned 9 thousand km squared, but our driver thought it was 12... Either way, ENORMOUS.
We stopped in the middle at the ´fisherman's island´, which was a hill covered in cactai; a rather bizarre sight amongst the miles and miles of flat white salt.
That afternoon our tour concluded in the town of Uyuni, where we said goodbye to Isabelle, Daisy's flatmate for the last 6 months. Emotional. That night we caught a bus to La Paz, arriving at half 7 yesterday morning. Despite some severe exhaustion we managed to do quite a lot, most importantly have a wash.
La Paz is very charming. I've been really surprised at how many women wear the traditional dress of the huge long skirts, tall rounded hat and many shawls - we especially saw a ton of them at the Buenos Aires market today. Yesterday we went to the National Art Museum and ended up meeting the sculpture whose work was being shown in an exhibition there.
Got 2 more nights here (including this one) before we head to Lake Titicaca, where we will hopefully be able to cross over to Peru, despite the prolonged closures...
Until then.. XO
On Monday morning we got picked up in a minibus for the beginning of our jeep tour to the Uyuni salt flat
(Bolivia). Crossing the border was almost a joke it was so informal. I didn´t even have my photo page checked at the Bolivian side. We rose to 5000m altitude within an hour of being in the jeep across the border, and stopped at the White Lagoon, Green Lagoon, and Red Lagoon (their names say it all), as well as taking a dip in a rather toasty thermal spring. The wind was insanely strong due to change of seasons, meaning it was about -8
degrees celsius outside the jeep.
Our hostel on the first night was the most basic thing imaginable, without even running water, ie. no flushing toilets, but our group of 12 bonded over card games of cheat, a bottle of rum for the cold, and in the morning the shared expeience of a bad night's sleep.
Day 2 featured the stone tree, more lagoons, this time not so excitingly coloured, and a notable pitstop for photos of the active volcano Ollague. I hesistantly asked the driver if we were going any closer to the volcano, bearing in mind the very recent eruptions in the South of Chile, to which he replied "no way,it's active!", thank God... The landscape was absolutely amazing though; an eruption had left some incredible wave like formations of lava.
Our second hostel was much more bearable, with a very lovely meal (and running water!), and after a much better rest we spent our final day mostly on the salt flat, Salar de Uyuni.
It was just awesome. Genuinely felt as though we were on another planet. Our guidebook said the salar spanned 9 thousand km squared, but our driver thought it was 12... Either way, ENORMOUS.
We stopped in the middle at the ´fisherman's island´, which was a hill covered in cactai; a rather bizarre sight amongst the miles and miles of flat white salt.
That afternoon our tour concluded in the town of Uyuni, where we said goodbye to Isabelle, Daisy's flatmate for the last 6 months. Emotional. That night we caught a bus to La Paz, arriving at half 7 yesterday morning. Despite some severe exhaustion we managed to do quite a lot, most importantly have a wash.
La Paz is very charming. I've been really surprised at how many women wear the traditional dress of the huge long skirts, tall rounded hat and many shawls - we especially saw a ton of them at the Buenos Aires market today. Yesterday we went to the National Art Museum and ended up meeting the sculpture whose work was being shown in an exhibition there.
Got 2 more nights here (including this one) before we head to Lake Titicaca, where we will hopefully be able to cross over to Peru, despite the prolonged closures...
Until then.. XO
Friday, 3 June 2011
san pedro, atacama desert
We arrived on Wednesday to a pitch black (at half 6) and rather deserted, dusty, and frankly almost biblical looking San Pedro.. After a bit of difficulty finding our way to the hostel, with minimal street lighting and hardly any road signs, we settled in for the night to prepare for some serious tourist action the following days.
Yesterday we arranged some tours and went to the Moon Valley and Death Valley that afternoon. We saw the most awesome views as the sun was setting from the top of this ridge like between-a-hill-and-a-mountain-thing. Volcanoes topped with snow on one side, immense sand dunes and bizarre rock formations like stegasauruses and coloseums all around, a peak at the Atacama sal flats in the distance, and the sun turning one part of the Andes entirely red as it went down... Apart from the other tourists we saw no other evidence of life. It was astonishing.
Today we got up at 4am and were picked up by our next tour guide to start a 2 hour journey to the Tatio geysers. I knew there would be some altitude involved but I didn't realise it was 4300m above sea level, which means 45% less oxygen. We suffered shortness of breath, physical weakness, and some nausea, but I'm just so grateful it wasn't any worse than that, seeing as we'll be at that altitude and just above for our jeep tour to Uyuni, Bolivia starting on Monday.
We arrived at the geysers at about 6, and after some explanations and photo ops had breakfast, including eggs boiled in the geysers themselves. Then, as the sun was coming out, we headed to a thermal pool thingy where we very bravely stripped down and took a dip in the waters! Getting dressed afterwards was definitely not fun though... When we arrived at the geysers it was -6 degrees celsius, and the sun had only just come up so it wasn't vastly warmer when we came out wet and in our swimsuits!
We visited some wetlands and a small village called Machuca where we tried llama and also had a photo with a baby llama of just under 2 months (in that order, otherwise the guilt would have been unreal...!), before heading back to the hostel at noon. A pretty insane morning!
Isabelle has arrived this evening and Daisy and her friend Rachel are joining us tomorrow, so we'll be 6 for the weekend.
It's all rather insane and deserty and overwhelming and awesome.. I had seen some photos before coming here (although have avoided too much research for fear of spoling surprises for myself) but there really is nothing like being here I think. It's quite astonishing.
Keep you posted... XO
Yesterday we arranged some tours and went to the Moon Valley and Death Valley that afternoon. We saw the most awesome views as the sun was setting from the top of this ridge like between-a-hill-and-a-mountain-thing. Volcanoes topped with snow on one side, immense sand dunes and bizarre rock formations like stegasauruses and coloseums all around, a peak at the Atacama sal flats in the distance, and the sun turning one part of the Andes entirely red as it went down... Apart from the other tourists we saw no other evidence of life. It was astonishing.
Today we got up at 4am and were picked up by our next tour guide to start a 2 hour journey to the Tatio geysers. I knew there would be some altitude involved but I didn't realise it was 4300m above sea level, which means 45% less oxygen. We suffered shortness of breath, physical weakness, and some nausea, but I'm just so grateful it wasn't any worse than that, seeing as we'll be at that altitude and just above for our jeep tour to Uyuni, Bolivia starting on Monday.
We arrived at the geysers at about 6, and after some explanations and photo ops had breakfast, including eggs boiled in the geysers themselves. Then, as the sun was coming out, we headed to a thermal pool thingy where we very bravely stripped down and took a dip in the waters! Getting dressed afterwards was definitely not fun though... When we arrived at the geysers it was -6 degrees celsius, and the sun had only just come up so it wasn't vastly warmer when we came out wet and in our swimsuits!
We visited some wetlands and a small village called Machuca where we tried llama and also had a photo with a baby llama of just under 2 months (in that order, otherwise the guilt would have been unreal...!), before heading back to the hostel at noon. A pretty insane morning!
Isabelle has arrived this evening and Daisy and her friend Rachel are joining us tomorrow, so we'll be 6 for the weekend.
It's all rather insane and deserty and overwhelming and awesome.. I had seen some photos before coming here (although have avoided too much research for fear of spoling surprises for myself) but there really is nothing like being here I think. It's quite astonishing.
Keep you posted... XO
Monday, 30 May 2011
24
My last 24 hours in Viña is about to begin.
Had a leaving party held for me on Friday which was absolutely incredible; I suppose the overwhelming emotionalness of it was actually a really good thing because I think it sucked it all out of me and now I feel sort of numb and more able to get on with the things I have to do to prepare myself.
I've said all my goodbyes, except the undoubtedly most emotional ones to Zelma and Marcela, and the Morrisons...
Tomorrow after lunch Laura and I head to Santiago, and then Wednesday take our flight to Calama for our few days in San Pedro.
Yeah, that's it for now I suppose... Feeling pretty out of it! Will be back on the adventure blogging pronto.
XO
Had a leaving party held for me on Friday which was absolutely incredible; I suppose the overwhelming emotionalness of it was actually a really good thing because I think it sucked it all out of me and now I feel sort of numb and more able to get on with the things I have to do to prepare myself.
I've said all my goodbyes, except the undoubtedly most emotional ones to Zelma and Marcela, and the Morrisons...
Tomorrow after lunch Laura and I head to Santiago, and then Wednesday take our flight to Calama for our few days in San Pedro.
Yeah, that's it for now I suppose... Feeling pretty out of it! Will be back on the adventure blogging pronto.
XO
Tuesday, 24 May 2011
one week
Phil's birthday weekend was an absolute corker. So Daisy and I arrived in Santiago late Thursday night, and the three of us spent Friday being rather productive and stocking up on useful things for travelling and having a steak lunch, and then spent the evening in watching Catfish (which is amazing by the way) and slobbing about.
Then on Saturday I told Phil that I was going to go and have lunch with one of Zelma's daughters in Las Condes while Isa, Daisy and he went to Fantasylandia (a theme park, lol), but I in fact crossed the road to his friend Zara's flat, which is right opposite Daisy's, and spent the afternoon prepping for a surprise do at hers that evening. Met up with the chaps later and took Phil on a supermarket run to distract him and then we showed up at the flat just after 8 to a dark room and 20 of his mates who all did the 'SURPRISE!' move on him very successfully!!
It was pretty awesome. There was TONS of food, and everyone was so lovely, it was a really lush evening. Sunday was rather lazy, unsurprisingly, but we did manage to get out and have lunch at the burger place Mr. Jack's. All in all a fab weekend!
I'm not back in Viña for one week of sorting myself out, packing up, and saying goodbyes... I spent all of yesterday on the internet after 2 weeks of being without my laptop, and now I think my body's gone into lockdown and I just feel suuuper tired, which is not helpful.
Going to go to DHL and find out just how expensive it would be to get them to ship some stuff home for me.. It's all rather real now I suppose. There's a leaving party being held at the church on Friday night and all.
I'm feeling rather annoyed at myself for not having any photos to show you but Daisy and Phil have both put some of theirs up and you MUST check them out, they are pretty amazing.
Phil's blog - photos from Buenos Aires
Daisy's blog - photos from Lago Llanquihue and Chiloé
Then on Saturday I told Phil that I was going to go and have lunch with one of Zelma's daughters in Las Condes while Isa, Daisy and he went to Fantasylandia (a theme park, lol), but I in fact crossed the road to his friend Zara's flat, which is right opposite Daisy's, and spent the afternoon prepping for a surprise do at hers that evening. Met up with the chaps later and took Phil on a supermarket run to distract him and then we showed up at the flat just after 8 to a dark room and 20 of his mates who all did the 'SURPRISE!' move on him very successfully!!
It was pretty awesome. There was TONS of food, and everyone was so lovely, it was a really lush evening. Sunday was rather lazy, unsurprisingly, but we did manage to get out and have lunch at the burger place Mr. Jack's. All in all a fab weekend!
I'm not back in Viña for one week of sorting myself out, packing up, and saying goodbyes... I spent all of yesterday on the internet after 2 weeks of being without my laptop, and now I think my body's gone into lockdown and I just feel suuuper tired, which is not helpful.
Going to go to DHL and find out just how expensive it would be to get them to ship some stuff home for me.. It's all rather real now I suppose. There's a leaving party being held at the church on Friday night and all.
------------------------------------------
I'm feeling rather annoyed at myself for not having any photos to show you but Daisy and Phil have both put some of theirs up and you MUST check them out, they are pretty amazing.
Phil's blog - photos from Buenos Aires
Daisy's blog - photos from Lago Llanquihue and Chiloé
Wednesday, 18 May 2011
more tales from the south
Daisy just wrote a blog full of Monday and Tuesday's antics.
Check it out on her blog here.
We were going to try and do a blog a day but it turns out travelling is kind of an event in itself, so these two might be it for now. We're going home tomorrow evening, so you'll hear from me from Phil's birthday weekend in Santiago.
Hasta luego...
Check it out on her blog here.
We were going to try and do a blog a day but it turns out travelling is kind of an event in itself, so these two might be it for now. We're going home tomorrow evening, so you'll hear from me from Phil's birthday weekend in Santiago.
Hasta luego...
Monday, 16 May 2011
best day ever?
After arriving in Santiago at about 10pm on Friday night, where Daisy was holding a rather endearing sign saying "sexy bitch and boyfriend", I switched my bag around a bit and tried to sleep before our 7am wake up call to head back to the airport for our flight to Puerto Montt.
It had been a bit difficult to work out what we were going to do in the South before arriving, what with me being in Buenos Aires, Daisy in her last week of work, and Laura already doing her own thing travelling down from Temuco to meet us upon our arrival. Ary had arranged for Laura to stay with a family down here, and her and the dad of the fam came to meet me and Dais at the airport. We had a lovely lunch waiting for us (immediately felt so at home - this family are just so sweet), and then set to working out what our plan would be.
3 hours later, no success. Seriously. We were reading the Lonely Planet and getting all excited, and then trying to take action and finding no information, calling people's homes because the codes in the book were wrong, and standardly nothing in Chile is online... The family came home after an afternoon out to some rather fed up and downcast faces. But then withing 10 minutes they had arranged for their son Felipe to drive us around for that evening and the next day. Within 10 minutes after that decision was made, we set off with all our stuff! It was literally the fastest turnaround imaginable. I couldn't help laughing out of the sheer amazingness of their generosity.
So we drove to Puerto Varas, where we got our first taste of the real German influence in the South, found a hotel, went out for a coffee and settled in for the night. Today Felipe met us at 9 and our insane day began.
We started our drive along the river with the most amazing views of the lake, which is so gigantic, with mountains around it and volcanoes too, the most outstanding being the Osorno Volcano, topped with snow. First stop was the Saltos de Petrohue - a waterfall of emerald green waters. The rocks were all volcanic; black and smooth in texture but formed in chunky shapes and molded by the waters around it.
Next, we drove on to the Lago de Todos Los Santos, the waterfall's source. I suppose I should point out that these areas are seriously untouched, and especially in the low season there was hardly anyone around. The nature was so astonishing, almost overwhelming. So when I say we went to a lake surrounded by forest and foliage, I mean that in really quite an intense way.. It's difficult to explain!! Maybe photos later will help! Either way, the presence of the looming volcano certainly helped with the sheer awesomeness of it all.
We went out on a boat with a local and went past a house owned by the head of the El Mercurio group, who apparently has one house for himself there, and one next door on his plot which he uses for all the models he brings there - the Chilean equivalent of the Playboy Mansion.
Then, we tried to head up the volcano, but it turned out that there had been a fatal accident the previous night and the volcano was shut while the rescue team and forensics brought down the body. Very tragic.
So we went and saw a lagoon - the greenest I had ever seen before, and then went to go and eat lunch.
I'd just like to point out that the time was at this point 1pm, but we'd done so much it felt like we were eating dinner.
As we drove back to the volcano to see if it was open again (which we were expecting it not to be, knowing Chilean authorities), some emergency vehicles drove past us leaving the site - a good sign (for us) which turned out to be accurate. So up we headed.
The day was gradually getting foggier and foggier, and as we drove up the volcano we entered into the clouds themselves, it felt, to the point where we could see hardly anything in front of us. But then, suddenly, we broke through and ended up on top of the clouds, with no view of anything beneath us, only a blanket of fluffy white. I cannot explain to you how incredible the views were. That and the fact that we were on a volcano!?
We then headed back round the lake to end up in our next stop, Frutillar.
Tomorrow we'll be here for lunch and then making the journey to the island of Chiloe... It's certainly kicked off to a very good start - a possibly unbeatbable day, but we've still got 4 days in the South and 3 and a half weeks after this to top it!
It had been a bit difficult to work out what we were going to do in the South before arriving, what with me being in Buenos Aires, Daisy in her last week of work, and Laura already doing her own thing travelling down from Temuco to meet us upon our arrival. Ary had arranged for Laura to stay with a family down here, and her and the dad of the fam came to meet me and Dais at the airport. We had a lovely lunch waiting for us (immediately felt so at home - this family are just so sweet), and then set to working out what our plan would be.
3 hours later, no success. Seriously. We were reading the Lonely Planet and getting all excited, and then trying to take action and finding no information, calling people's homes because the codes in the book were wrong, and standardly nothing in Chile is online... The family came home after an afternoon out to some rather fed up and downcast faces. But then withing 10 minutes they had arranged for their son Felipe to drive us around for that evening and the next day. Within 10 minutes after that decision was made, we set off with all our stuff! It was literally the fastest turnaround imaginable. I couldn't help laughing out of the sheer amazingness of their generosity.
So we drove to Puerto Varas, where we got our first taste of the real German influence in the South, found a hotel, went out for a coffee and settled in for the night. Today Felipe met us at 9 and our insane day began.
We started our drive along the river with the most amazing views of the lake, which is so gigantic, with mountains around it and volcanoes too, the most outstanding being the Osorno Volcano, topped with snow. First stop was the Saltos de Petrohue - a waterfall of emerald green waters. The rocks were all volcanic; black and smooth in texture but formed in chunky shapes and molded by the waters around it.
Next, we drove on to the Lago de Todos Los Santos, the waterfall's source. I suppose I should point out that these areas are seriously untouched, and especially in the low season there was hardly anyone around. The nature was so astonishing, almost overwhelming. So when I say we went to a lake surrounded by forest and foliage, I mean that in really quite an intense way.. It's difficult to explain!! Maybe photos later will help! Either way, the presence of the looming volcano certainly helped with the sheer awesomeness of it all.
We went out on a boat with a local and went past a house owned by the head of the El Mercurio group, who apparently has one house for himself there, and one next door on his plot which he uses for all the models he brings there - the Chilean equivalent of the Playboy Mansion.
Then, we tried to head up the volcano, but it turned out that there had been a fatal accident the previous night and the volcano was shut while the rescue team and forensics brought down the body. Very tragic.
So we went and saw a lagoon - the greenest I had ever seen before, and then went to go and eat lunch.
I'd just like to point out that the time was at this point 1pm, but we'd done so much it felt like we were eating dinner.
As we drove back to the volcano to see if it was open again (which we were expecting it not to be, knowing Chilean authorities), some emergency vehicles drove past us leaving the site - a good sign (for us) which turned out to be accurate. So up we headed.
The day was gradually getting foggier and foggier, and as we drove up the volcano we entered into the clouds themselves, it felt, to the point where we could see hardly anything in front of us. But then, suddenly, we broke through and ended up on top of the clouds, with no view of anything beneath us, only a blanket of fluffy white. I cannot explain to you how incredible the views were. That and the fact that we were on a volcano!?
We then headed back round the lake to end up in our next stop, Frutillar.
Tomorrow we'll be here for lunch and then making the journey to the island of Chiloe... It's certainly kicked off to a very good start - a possibly unbeatbable day, but we've still got 4 days in the South and 3 and a half weeks after this to top it!
--------------------
Daisy and I are going to alternate blogging about this trip, so she'll be writing at the end of tomorrow - I'll be linking you up as we go.
XOX
Saturday, 14 May 2011
it ain't over 'til it's over
On Thursday we went with our new roommate to the botanical gardens which were absolutely stunning. So green and lush, like nothing I'd ever seen before, really. Then we went to the zoo, which was a bit of a mixture of emotions, as I suppose they often are, as quite a few of the animals looked far too skinny, and were prowling around like they were in need of a meal (possibly human shaped). But the animals they had there were just amazing - lions and tigers and bears (oh my!), an elephant, camels, loads of llamas, antelopes and deer, and hippos and rhinos... Seriously impressive. As always, photos and such will be on their way, either from Phil or from my film camera once back in London.
Went for a steak dinner again which was lovely, followed by a drink at a place we'd already been to, Caracas, but we discovered the very cool roof terrace (bit more of an indie, young and trendy crowd), and I tried a fernet and coke, which was rather interesting but I rather enjoyed once my tastebuds got used to the insanely-herby-verging-on-cough-medicine taste.
Today was relaxed, but thankfully the weather was a tad grim, making BA less hard to leave behind. I feel so sure about my return though that I actually didn't feel sad in the slightest.
As we were on the plane taking off, it started to rain and "Don't cry for me, Argentina..." just felt totally relevant.
A change of clothes and underwear in the bag and Daisy and I are off to Puerto Montt tomorrow morning!
More tales to come...
XOX
Went for a steak dinner again which was lovely, followed by a drink at a place we'd already been to, Caracas, but we discovered the very cool roof terrace (bit more of an indie, young and trendy crowd), and I tried a fernet and coke, which was rather interesting but I rather enjoyed once my tastebuds got used to the insanely-herby-verging-on-cough-medicine taste.
Today was relaxed, but thankfully the weather was a tad grim, making BA less hard to leave behind. I feel so sure about my return though that I actually didn't feel sad in the slightest.
As we were on the plane taking off, it started to rain and "Don't cry for me, Argentina..." just felt totally relevant.
A change of clothes and underwear in the bag and Daisy and I are off to Puerto Montt tomorrow morning!
More tales to come...
XOX
Thursday, 12 May 2011
song and dance
On Tuesday night we went and did the standard Buenos Aires experience of going to a Tango show. It's a real nightmare deciding where to go, as obviously everywhere claims to have the best, most authentic show, but we ended up going to a low key and cheap place which both Time Out and Lonely Planet recommended called Los 36 Billares. The live musicians were actually brilliant, and the singer was very warbly and demonstrative which suited his dramatic love songs very well indeed. There were 4 dancers who danced in 2 pairs - one were the young, steamy, more passionate (and limber) duo, and the other were more elegant and, frankly, looked less like they were attracted to their partner and more like they were in love with Tango itself. The balance was really nice between them, I think - if there had only been one of the two pairs there I think it would have been a slightly more narrow view of the style of dance. Very enjoyable.
Yesterday we went to La Boca, which, to be honest, was the biggest waste of time ever. It's a huge tourist trap - the barrio itself is grim beyond grim, and then there are these 2 streets full of colourful houses and restaurants with waiters outside all ushering you inside, with (awful) Tango performances outside each one... I suppose some of the scenery makes good photo opportunities but that is literally it. We arrived in the cab at the football stadium there and had to navigate a bit to get to this road (Caminito), and it seemed like a back street of a possibly dodgy area (which supported the warnings we got from our taxi driver on the way there). And then once we were sick of the place (took about 3 minutes) we walked to the end of the road and were immediately out of picture perfect tourist land, and back to sketchy, grim, run down La Boca. Totally bizarre and weird. Not worth the $100 peoso there and back taxi fare in the slightest.
Luckily, Phil found a great restaurant for us to go to afterwards back in Palermo (which we are gradually discovering to be cooler every day), where we had some scrummy food before Isabelle had to head back to the hostel to get her suitcase and catch her flight back to Santiago. And then there were two...
Phil and I lazed about in the afternoon and then went to discover a bit more of Palermo, and then decided we needed to go out and do something in the evening. We checked out this website whatsupbuenosaires.com which this London girl we met told us about, and saw a gig was happening at a club Hannah TW raved about from when she was here a few years ago. I hadn't heard of Jamie Lidell before, a UK artist as well funnily enough, but we decided to go and check it out.
And it. was. amazing. Genuinely one of the best gigs I've ever been to. Perhaps not really having any expectations made it better, but he is just amazing. An incredible singer, and the music was fun and funky, and his loop-pedal skills were outstanding. I never knew it was possible to make a loop pedal sound so good. He could have done the entire gig like that it wouldn't have got old. I'll find a youtube vid to post up once I'm at a computer with speakers.
I think it's a pretty small world round this side of town though to be honest. Hannah TW told us about this club, Club Niceto, and the night that she loved there called Zizek. Then we met this London girl whose brother in law or something started this clothes shop called Boliva. Turns out they are friend with these people who run whatsupbuenosaires.com, and on the website there's an entire section for Zizek.
Anyhow, it's getting a bit ranty. We're about to go and grab some food and sit in the Botanical Gardens and maybe go to the zoo. We're leaving tomorrow, but we'll definitely be back.
Yesterday we went to La Boca, which, to be honest, was the biggest waste of time ever. It's a huge tourist trap - the barrio itself is grim beyond grim, and then there are these 2 streets full of colourful houses and restaurants with waiters outside all ushering you inside, with (awful) Tango performances outside each one... I suppose some of the scenery makes good photo opportunities but that is literally it. We arrived in the cab at the football stadium there and had to navigate a bit to get to this road (Caminito), and it seemed like a back street of a possibly dodgy area (which supported the warnings we got from our taxi driver on the way there). And then once we were sick of the place (took about 3 minutes) we walked to the end of the road and were immediately out of picture perfect tourist land, and back to sketchy, grim, run down La Boca. Totally bizarre and weird. Not worth the $100 peoso there and back taxi fare in the slightest.
Luckily, Phil found a great restaurant for us to go to afterwards back in Palermo (which we are gradually discovering to be cooler every day), where we had some scrummy food before Isabelle had to head back to the hostel to get her suitcase and catch her flight back to Santiago. And then there were two...
Phil and I lazed about in the afternoon and then went to discover a bit more of Palermo, and then decided we needed to go out and do something in the evening. We checked out this website whatsupbuenosaires.com which this London girl we met told us about, and saw a gig was happening at a club Hannah TW raved about from when she was here a few years ago. I hadn't heard of Jamie Lidell before, a UK artist as well funnily enough, but we decided to go and check it out.
And it. was. amazing. Genuinely one of the best gigs I've ever been to. Perhaps not really having any expectations made it better, but he is just amazing. An incredible singer, and the music was fun and funky, and his loop-pedal skills were outstanding. I never knew it was possible to make a loop pedal sound so good. He could have done the entire gig like that it wouldn't have got old. I'll find a youtube vid to post up once I'm at a computer with speakers.
I think it's a pretty small world round this side of town though to be honest. Hannah TW told us about this club, Club Niceto, and the night that she loved there called Zizek. Then we met this London girl whose brother in law or something started this clothes shop called Boliva. Turns out they are friend with these people who run whatsupbuenosaires.com, and on the website there's an entire section for Zizek.
Anyhow, it's getting a bit ranty. We're about to go and grab some food and sit in the Botanical Gardens and maybe go to the zoo. We're leaving tomorrow, but we'll definitely be back.
Tuesday, 10 May 2011
it's all rather theatrical
Got 3 days left here and I already know it won't be enough. We are totally in love with BA. One thing I noticed today is that Argentinians are freakin legendary at queueing. They seriously know how it goes down. Maybe even more than Brits do - the personal space and orderly fashion is perhaps why I feel so comfortable here..... It makes a nice change to Chile at least!
Today we went to the El Ateneo bookshop on Avenida Santa Fe, which seems like a sort of Oxford Street equivalent - long and big and full of shops. The place is absolutely amazing. I'm not fussy about bookshops; as long as they are full of books I can spend hours sat on the floor poking my nose in things I wish I was intelligent and proactive enough to actually read. But this place was something else.
Not only was it full of books, the building used to be a theatre, so what used to be the seating area is now aisles and aisles of books, the ceiling is painted with a huge religious themed fresco, the private booths have comfy chairs where you can read, and the stage is now a cafe.
Each of the teirs is a different section of books with more chairs on each level to read. It was just amazing and surreal and wonderful. Phil took about a billion photos so that he can try and use them to make a panoramic shot through this Microsoft program, so hopefully that'll turn out well for him - couldn't think of a better place to do it!
Last night we went for pizza at a place owned by La Cabrera (where we had the steaks on our first night), and, true to form, we were served the most ludicrous amount of food... I had the Marcelina pizza (their signature - the restaurant is called Marcelina & Garcia), which had brie, mozzarella, and povola cheese on it with rocket and black olives. Super scrummy. The highlight, though, might have been this tiny palette cleansing drink we got in a shot glass after the pizza, which was a frozen fruity concoction. We loved it so much we got a second, although they wouldn't give it to us a drink in its own right. It had banana, orange, champagne, rum and some malbec in it. I will definitely be trying to recreate that in the future.
We're about to go out and see a tango show, so no doubt you'll hear about that tomorrow. It's Isabelle's last night, so hopefully it's a good one to send her off on!
Today we went to the El Ateneo bookshop on Avenida Santa Fe, which seems like a sort of Oxford Street equivalent - long and big and full of shops. The place is absolutely amazing. I'm not fussy about bookshops; as long as they are full of books I can spend hours sat on the floor poking my nose in things I wish I was intelligent and proactive enough to actually read. But this place was something else.
Not only was it full of books, the building used to be a theatre, so what used to be the seating area is now aisles and aisles of books, the ceiling is painted with a huge religious themed fresco, the private booths have comfy chairs where you can read, and the stage is now a cafe.
Each of the teirs is a different section of books with more chairs on each level to read. It was just amazing and surreal and wonderful. Phil took about a billion photos so that he can try and use them to make a panoramic shot through this Microsoft program, so hopefully that'll turn out well for him - couldn't think of a better place to do it!
Last night we went for pizza at a place owned by La Cabrera (where we had the steaks on our first night), and, true to form, we were served the most ludicrous amount of food... I had the Marcelina pizza (their signature - the restaurant is called Marcelina & Garcia), which had brie, mozzarella, and povola cheese on it with rocket and black olives. Super scrummy. The highlight, though, might have been this tiny palette cleansing drink we got in a shot glass after the pizza, which was a frozen fruity concoction. We loved it so much we got a second, although they wouldn't give it to us a drink in its own right. It had banana, orange, champagne, rum and some malbec in it. I will definitely be trying to recreate that in the future.
We're about to go out and see a tango show, so no doubt you'll hear about that tomorrow. It's Isabelle's last night, so hopefully it's a good one to send her off on!
Sunday, 8 May 2011
retail therapy
Yesterday and today we went to two markets that were highly recommended to us here in Buenos Aires - yesterday we went to the Plaza Francia in Recoleta, and today to the antiques market in San Telmo, starting in Plaza Dorrego. The quality in both seemed to me to be really legit, and I ended up indulging in a bit of retail therapy, having so far bought 2 bracelets, a pair of earrings, a book about Chile (silly really), 3 rings, including one that is the Harley Davidson logo (awesome), a pair of trousers and I'm pretty sure I'm forgetting things.
I didn't bring my digital camera with me (as it's a bit annoying to carry anda bit attention grabbing too), so I don't have any photos to show you yet which is a shame. Phil has been snapping away lots though so I'll be sure to link to his blog when he's written about it.
For dinner tonight we went to El Cuartito, an old pizza haunt in Recoleta, which was relaxed and busy and full of old people which, I took to be a good thing. The pizzas were immense - pretty thick and with good toppings, but leaving you feeling stodgy afterwards. Phil tried to tackle a large by himself, leaving out waiter chuffed with himself after his warning that it would be too much came true.
We've been trying to gather up as many recommendations as we can; the city is absolutely huge, and it's seriously difficult to know where to head. We've got a plan for the next two days which includes the cemetary and a very beautiful bookshop, as well as tango and more pizza.
Keep you posted...
XO
I didn't bring my digital camera with me (as it's a bit annoying to carry anda bit attention grabbing too), so I don't have any photos to show you yet which is a shame. Phil has been snapping away lots though so I'll be sure to link to his blog when he's written about it.
For dinner tonight we went to El Cuartito, an old pizza haunt in Recoleta, which was relaxed and busy and full of old people which, I took to be a good thing. The pizzas were immense - pretty thick and with good toppings, but leaving you feeling stodgy afterwards. Phil tried to tackle a large by himself, leaving out waiter chuffed with himself after his warning that it would be too much came true.
We've been trying to gather up as many recommendations as we can; the city is absolutely huge, and it's seriously difficult to know where to head. We've got a plan for the next two days which includes the cemetary and a very beautiful bookshop, as well as tango and more pizza.
Keep you posted...
XO
Saturday, 7 May 2011
cheapsteaks
Isabelle, Phil and I just arrived in Buenos Aires today; Daisy had to abandon ship very tragically super last minute due to complications with her visa - the Chilean bureaucracy has some serious explaining to do. Nevertheless, we had an amazing day with her yesterday, involving much hanging out, a trip to the cinema and a sushi dinner.
After a 5am start and two flights stopping over in Uruguay, we touched down in warm and sunny BA, and dropped off our stuff at the hostel before heading out to have a coffee and a gander at some guide listings and maps. Some coffee, dulce de leche, alfajors and cheese later we sauntered back and then got ready for a dinner at La Cabrera. Daisy had booked this restaurant for us, having heard it does some of the best steak in BA. We showed up (a touch late thanks to my malfunctioning internal GPS), loved the vibe right away, and ordered, being restricted by our slightly socially awkward waiter who informed us that we would have far too much in front of us if we carried on as we were.
The steaks arrived, looking a touch overwhelming as they were, along with some green side salads. Then came 4 little side dishes, some scrummy mashed veg and pickled things, as standard with the steaks. And some creamed spinach and delicious mustard sauce. And then we were brought some small vegetable sides too (I chose some baby sweetcorn with a sunblushed tom, which was just delicious). Soon our table was absolutely crammed with lots of these little tasters. And THEN a man at the table next to us decided to give us 2 bottles of wine, one white one red, after having only one glass of each.. (We reckon he was showing off but who's going to turn down 2 free bottles!)
I think it was probably the best meal I've had in months (not counting the home cooked yummy-ness of Zelma's kitchen, but that's in a league of it's own), and found myself so pleasantly satisfied, but not stuffed, that I even managed a mascarpone pavlova with red berries afterwards.
My grand total for the evening was... 12 english pounds.
Plus a 2 quid cover charge each and 10% service on top... But that was nothing given the luxury of the most divine and exciting meal in ages for what was overall 15 quid!!
I'm genuinely in shock.
I think it's fair to say Day 1 has been a success.
.......But it's nowhere near the same without Daisy... :(
After a 5am start and two flights stopping over in Uruguay, we touched down in warm and sunny BA, and dropped off our stuff at the hostel before heading out to have a coffee and a gander at some guide listings and maps. Some coffee, dulce de leche, alfajors and cheese later we sauntered back and then got ready for a dinner at La Cabrera. Daisy had booked this restaurant for us, having heard it does some of the best steak in BA. We showed up (a touch late thanks to my malfunctioning internal GPS), loved the vibe right away, and ordered, being restricted by our slightly socially awkward waiter who informed us that we would have far too much in front of us if we carried on as we were.
The steaks arrived, looking a touch overwhelming as they were, along with some green side salads. Then came 4 little side dishes, some scrummy mashed veg and pickled things, as standard with the steaks. And some creamed spinach and delicious mustard sauce. And then we were brought some small vegetable sides too (I chose some baby sweetcorn with a sunblushed tom, which was just delicious). Soon our table was absolutely crammed with lots of these little tasters. And THEN a man at the table next to us decided to give us 2 bottles of wine, one white one red, after having only one glass of each.. (We reckon he was showing off but who's going to turn down 2 free bottles!)
I think it was probably the best meal I've had in months (not counting the home cooked yummy-ness of Zelma's kitchen, but that's in a league of it's own), and found myself so pleasantly satisfied, but not stuffed, that I even managed a mascarpone pavlova with red berries afterwards.
My grand total for the evening was... 12 english pounds.
Plus a 2 quid cover charge each and 10% service on top... But that was nothing given the luxury of the most divine and exciting meal in ages for what was overall 15 quid!!
I'm genuinely in shock.
I think it's fair to say Day 1 has been a success.
.......But it's nowhere near the same without Daisy... :(
Tuesday, 3 May 2011
done and (almost) done
So I submitted my essays and translation exam to the online Blackboard system tonight (yay!), and about 15 minutes after I did so I thought, "Haha well for my first time using Blackboard I suppose that wasn't so bad. Would have been funny if I had taken all that easy clicking a bit too lightly and not checked my work out thoroughly before hitting 'submit'. Wouldn't it? Er, wait. I should probably check that."
And typically, I had left in an extra word in one of my translations, which may not sound like a big deal but it was my first answer and I KNOW that leaving multiple words is a HUGE no no (ie. not making up your mind and leaving options for the examiner to pick their favourite).
Having spent some hours whining in my head about having to write commentaries about why we translated the sentences as we did, I am now extremely grateful for it, because my commentary does refer to and point out the word I did want to use (even though my actual translation doesn't back it up).
Have already emailed out the emergency plea to the department just in case. God willing it gets understood as an error and not as me being an idiot...
Anyhow. That aside, the work is done!!
I went shopping this afternoon for some bits and bobs... Retail therapy definitely hit a spot in me today.
On another note, I was awake last night when the news of Osama's death came out and I felt really weird about the whole thing. I couldn't put my finger on it until I spoke to Daisy about it today. She sums it up perfectly.
Read what she has to say about it on her blog - Oui, c'est un blog.
UPDATE: Got an email back from King's and have resent my exam, phew!
Also thanks Daisy for pointing out my Obama / Osama typo... Seriously, their names..... it's a joke right? Can't believe I typo'd that Obama was dead, but it's understandable!!
And typically, I had left in an extra word in one of my translations, which may not sound like a big deal but it was my first answer and I KNOW that leaving multiple words is a HUGE no no (ie. not making up your mind and leaving options for the examiner to pick their favourite).
Having spent some hours whining in my head about having to write commentaries about why we translated the sentences as we did, I am now extremely grateful for it, because my commentary does refer to and point out the word I did want to use (even though my actual translation doesn't back it up).
Have already emailed out the emergency plea to the department just in case. God willing it gets understood as an error and not as me being an idiot...
Anyhow. That aside, the work is done!!
I went shopping this afternoon for some bits and bobs... Retail therapy definitely hit a spot in me today.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
On another note, I was awake last night when the news of Osama's death came out and I felt really weird about the whole thing. I couldn't put my finger on it until I spoke to Daisy about it today. She sums it up perfectly.
Read what she has to say about it on her blog - Oui, c'est un blog.
UPDATE: Got an email back from King's and have resent my exam, phew!
Also thanks Daisy for pointing out my Obama / Osama typo... Seriously, their names..... it's a joke right? Can't believe I typo'd that Obama was dead, but it's understandable!!
Monday, 2 May 2011
music to miss england to
Last night I had an insomniac moment and found myself unable to sleep until 5.30am. Had been feeling what I can only describe as numb and cloudy, which didn't really make a huge amount of sense until this morning when I went to church (arriving an hour late) and ended up hugely emotional and cried about 4 times. Think I've been storing up a lot of emotions this week as the end of my time here suddenly looms before me, and my list of things to do before I go gets longer and longer... And my sadness at leaving Viña rises to meet the longing I have to be back in London.
So here's some music to feel emotional to. Part one, missing England.
I love this Death Cab For Cutie track... I used to listen to it and pretend I had some American romance to whine about, and listen to the lyrics and play my own sort of cartoon-esque music video out in my head. But I realised last week that the tables have turned and I am now the one on the other side of the Atlantic. Pretty glad I didn't listen to this song in about January to be honest... This song used to make me feel emotional enough as it was, with my imaginary pining, let alone it being relevant.
This second one is a song I didn't previously know but I heard live with Phil and Samuel at Lollapalooza. The National are pretty rad, especially the latest album.
"You must be somewhere in London,
You must be loving your life in the rain..."
Brought me and Phil to a wet eyed trying not to actually cry state pretty much immediately.
Very excited to be home, but lots of adventures yet to come... Starting on Friday.
Will be back on the blog front from now on.
So here's some music to feel emotional to. Part one, missing England.
I love this Death Cab For Cutie track... I used to listen to it and pretend I had some American romance to whine about, and listen to the lyrics and play my own sort of cartoon-esque music video out in my head. But I realised last week that the tables have turned and I am now the one on the other side of the Atlantic. Pretty glad I didn't listen to this song in about January to be honest... This song used to make me feel emotional enough as it was, with my imaginary pining, let alone it being relevant.
This second one is a song I didn't previously know but I heard live with Phil and Samuel at Lollapalooza. The National are pretty rad, especially the latest album.
"You must be somewhere in London,
You must be loving your life in the rain..."
Brought me and Phil to a wet eyed trying not to actually cry state pretty much immediately.
Very excited to be home, but lots of adventures yet to come... Starting on Friday.
Will be back on the blog front from now on.
Thursday, 28 April 2011
beyonce made me a birthday present
I got 99 bloggles but Beyonce ain't (been in) one (until now.) (I think.)
Lily: you absolute legend for sending me this.
She's only gone and done a music video as part of Michelle Obama's Let's Move intiative... Down with fat lazy people, up with shakin' yo bootaaayyyyyy. My kind of health regime.
Learning it asap.
There is also a SPANISH VERSION. Taking this instructional video to the Chilean youths with intention. (Note when the song comes in the words are in. Spanish. She's such a g.)
Lily: you absolute legend for sending me this.
She's only gone and done a music video as part of Michelle Obama's Let's Move intiative... Down with fat lazy people, up with shakin' yo bootaaayyyyyy. My kind of health regime.
Learning it asap.
There is also a SPANISH VERSION. Taking this instructional video to the Chilean youths with intention. (Note when the song comes in the words are in. Spanish. She's such a g.)
Tuesday, 26 April 2011
perspective
I had dedicated last night to working and just couldn't bring myself to, then tried to get up at 9am today but turned the alarm off and conked out for another two hours. I am now sat here in an empty house with no distractions (for once!) and an afternoon begging to be worked in but I just. can't. slash. won't.
This is really taking its toll on me now. I have been in this tiny room for I think about 3 weeks now, since my attempts to try and study in libraries failed miserably upon discovering the one here in Viña and in Valpo are both closed... I am two down one to go (research already been started on the last one), and some more work needed on my translation essay too.
Last night I had tea with Zelma and Laura Dyson; the fewest of us that have been together in the house since everyone arrived 2 weeks ago. Zelma and I ended up talking about what it was like when I first arrived in October, and about Exequiel passing away. It was really nice to chat to her, it made me realise how long I've been here living with her, and just how fond of her I am. I do really feel at home here now, and for the first time I thought about how sad I will be to leave this house and my Chilean hostess.
It also gave me a bit of perspective: Zelma is still waiting for her pension to come through, 6 months after Exequiel's passing, and she was telling me that if it wasn't for me being here and paying rent she doesn't know how she would have coped financially. It seems really Godsent now in hindsight my arriving here one week before he died, not even thinking about me helping her have some company during the days, but from a purely financial perspective for her.
It's definitely been a nice wake up call to remember I am not just here to write essays and sit in a bedroom moving my laptop around as I search for wifi, but then I have lived here, with a family, and been through lots with them.
Although taking my eyes off my now trivial seeming essays is not motivating me to work now, is it??
X
This is really taking its toll on me now. I have been in this tiny room for I think about 3 weeks now, since my attempts to try and study in libraries failed miserably upon discovering the one here in Viña and in Valpo are both closed... I am two down one to go (research already been started on the last one), and some more work needed on my translation essay too.
Last night I had tea with Zelma and Laura Dyson; the fewest of us that have been together in the house since everyone arrived 2 weeks ago. Zelma and I ended up talking about what it was like when I first arrived in October, and about Exequiel passing away. It was really nice to chat to her, it made me realise how long I've been here living with her, and just how fond of her I am. I do really feel at home here now, and for the first time I thought about how sad I will be to leave this house and my Chilean hostess.
It also gave me a bit of perspective: Zelma is still waiting for her pension to come through, 6 months after Exequiel's passing, and she was telling me that if it wasn't for me being here and paying rent she doesn't know how she would have coped financially. It seems really Godsent now in hindsight my arriving here one week before he died, not even thinking about me helping her have some company during the days, but from a purely financial perspective for her.
It's definitely been a nice wake up call to remember I am not just here to write essays and sit in a bedroom moving my laptop around as I search for wifi, but then I have lived here, with a family, and been through lots with them.
Although taking my eyes off my now trivial seeming essays is not motivating me to work now, is it??
X
Monday, 25 April 2011
walt whitman
O the joy of my soul leaning pois'd on itself, receiving
identity through materials and loving them, observing
characters and absorbing them,
My soul vibrate back to me from them, from sight,
hearing, touch, reason, articulation, comparison, memory,
and the like,
The real life of my sense and flesh transcending my sense
and flesh,
My body done with materials, my sight done with my
material eyes,
Proved to me this day beyond cavil that it is not my material
eyes which finally see,
Nor my material body which finally loves, walks, laughs,
shouts, embraces, procreates.
identity through materials and loving them, observing
characters and absorbing them,
My soul vibrate back to me from them, from sight,
hearing, touch, reason, articulation, comparison, memory,
and the like,
The real life of my sense and flesh transcending my sense
and flesh,
My body done with materials, my sight done with my
material eyes,
Proved to me this day beyond cavil that it is not my material
eyes which finally see,
Nor my material body which finally loves, walks, laughs,
shouts, embraces, procreates.
From 'A Song of Joys', lines 98-103
Monday, 18 April 2011
TOM VEK
The man is back.
5 years after the stonker of a debut album that was We Have Sound...
A reminder >> Nothing But Green Lights >>
Finally. The next one is coming.
Single off the new album out in June >> A Chore >>
Could not be anymore hyped about this.
You know who I'll be listening to all day all week all month.
5 years after the stonker of a debut album that was We Have Sound...
A reminder >> Nothing But Green Lights >>
Finally. The next one is coming.
Single off the new album out in June >> A Chore >>
Could not be anymore hyped about this.
You know who I'll be listening to all day all week all month.
Friday, 15 April 2011
the sound of silence
It's gone a bit quiet on the not-a-blog front.
This is because I am trying to not be on the computer without studying for my essays.
Sadly my blog got hit first, facebook is obviously yet to be affected...
Good news is that the house is very full with Laura Dyson arriving and Ricardo, Rebecca, and the kids here for their youngest's baptism on Sunday! Rebecca's parents arrived yesterday, and two more of Ricardo's sisters and families are arriving today. (ie. more of Zelma's kids.)
With Rebecca's parents came a rather delayed Christmas presents from my Grandparents! Although I think Dad included his presents in with mine - I don't think I was supposed to get cufflinks somehow..!
I'm learning loads right now, which I s'pose is a good thing... Sadly most of it isn't going into my essay, because of space and trying to make a point and not just ramble on about things I find interesting (which I could do very easily). Might try and share some of my new knowledge with you when I'm not quite so fed up with it all.
Listening to the Paul Simon Songbook now on Spotify to get my through...
Peace out XOX
This is because I am trying to not be on the computer without studying for my essays.
Sadly my blog got hit first, facebook is obviously yet to be affected...
Good news is that the house is very full with Laura Dyson arriving and Ricardo, Rebecca, and the kids here for their youngest's baptism on Sunday! Rebecca's parents arrived yesterday, and two more of Ricardo's sisters and families are arriving today. (ie. more of Zelma's kids.)
With Rebecca's parents came a rather delayed Christmas presents from my Grandparents! Although I think Dad included his presents in with mine - I don't think I was supposed to get cufflinks somehow..!
I'm learning loads right now, which I s'pose is a good thing... Sadly most of it isn't going into my essay, because of space and trying to make a point and not just ramble on about things I find interesting (which I could do very easily). Might try and share some of my new knowledge with you when I'm not quite so fed up with it all.
Listening to the Paul Simon Songbook now on Spotify to get my through...
Peace out XOX
Sunday, 10 April 2011
say no to april
Hello chaps.
Quite frankly I am willing this month to end, pronto. Main reason being this work for King's is sucky and boring and making me sucky and boring, and wish I was at home right now even more than I already do
a) because procrastination always ends in facebook, and stalking all my friends, and
b) because at least in London I have a mad decent library where I feel guilty about being on facebook. Oh and the books are helpful?
Also, once this month is over there is only fun ahead - Buenos Aires in May, and then possibly going to the South of Chile, and then Bolivia and Peru in June and then HOME.
So apologies in advance for future stroppiness, and for any symptoms I have already been manifesting.
I'm just getting hardcore bored of the internet and this room!!
Got 32 articles downloaded now, most of which will not even be necessary. Dull. And masochistic.
Trying to finish one essay today so I can go to Santiago for a bit of fun and japes with Dais, Phil and Isa before starting on number 2.
Very tight and squeezy hugs XOX
Quite frankly I am willing this month to end, pronto. Main reason being this work for King's is sucky and boring and making me sucky and boring, and wish I was at home right now even more than I already do
a) because procrastination always ends in facebook, and stalking all my friends, and
b) because at least in London I have a mad decent library where I feel guilty about being on facebook. Oh and the books are helpful?
Also, once this month is over there is only fun ahead - Buenos Aires in May, and then possibly going to the South of Chile, and then Bolivia and Peru in June and then HOME.
So apologies in advance for future stroppiness, and for any symptoms I have already been manifesting.
I'm just getting hardcore bored of the internet and this room!!
Got 32 articles downloaded now, most of which will not even be necessary. Dull. And masochistic.
Trying to finish one essay today so I can go to Santiago for a bit of fun and japes with Dais, Phil and Isa before starting on number 2.
Very tight and squeezy hugs XOX
Friday, 8 April 2011
june travels
Daisy just blogged about what we did last night. So instead of repeating what she said, here is exactly what she said.
Oui, c'est un blog: What's the plan, stan?:
Oui, c'est un blog: What's the plan, stan?:
So, last night Lulo popped over again from Viña to set the plan in motion.
With only 7 and a half weeks until i finish work at La Segunda and a mere 8 weeks before we set off on our travels, we decided we should have a sit down and decide where we're going.
Here is a very rough plan;
Atacama desert
Over the Andes by jeep for 3 days to Salt flats in Bolivia
La Paz
Lake Titicaca
Cuzco
Machu Pichu
Atacama
Santiago
England.
With only 7 and a half weeks until i finish work at La Segunda and a mere 8 weeks before we set off on our travels, we decided we should have a sit down and decide where we're going.
Here is a very rough plan;
Atacama desert
Over the Andes by jeep for 3 days to Salt flats in Bolivia
La Paz
Lake Titicaca
Cuzco
Machu Pichu
Atacama
Santiago
England.
i. am. so. excited.
SO AM I!!!!!!!!!!!!
We even managed to book return flights from Santiago to Calama (first stop of the trip) - it's crazy, awesome and also rather reassuring that the wheels are now turning...
So little left to go........
Thursday, 7 April 2011
my awesometer just broke
THIS COULD NOT BE ANY MORE AWESOME
(made my eyes kinda wet from sheer awesomeness.)
((did i mention that it's awesome?))
(made my eyes kinda wet from sheer awesomeness.)
((did i mention that it's awesome?))
Tuesday, 5 April 2011
birthday whammy!!
ALSO it is the 22nd birthday (still on Chile time) of two wonderful darling girlies of mine - Emma and Ceyda!
You're very awesome and I think these say it all.
(skip to 2:20 once you get a bit bored - yes she does carry on doing the same thing until then)
BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAAYYYYYY / DIRTAAAYYY / THURSDAAAAYYYYY???
You're very awesome and I think these say it all.
(skip to 2:20 once you get a bit bored - yes she does carry on doing the same thing until then)
BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAAYYYYYY / DIRTAAAYYY / THURSDAAAAYYYYY???
brits at an american festival in chile
Yes, so this weekend we were at Lollapalooza (we being Phil, Samuel and I, and Daisy and her parents for the Sunday too).
Let's just say that the whole thing was a complete shambles in the run up. Like, extraordinarily so. Their website was a total waste of time, giving no information about anything at all. I ended up having to do twitter searches to find details about most things that they had not explained.
I quite frankly cannot bring myself to explain to you the horror that it was - I think I may still be a touch traumatised and don't want to reopen my wounds.
The healing process was hugely and incredibly aided by the festival itself. Which almost makes me crosser because the thing was worth it!
One thing I will mention is that there was no alcohol at all on site, neither allowed to be brought in nor sold (unless you forked out for a VIP ticket). However, this info only came out through one of my twitter searches and the rumour mill at Santiago Times via Phil. So in our minds we were thinking "how on earth can they possibly imagine having a festival without booze?!?!" I guess that says a lot about drinking culture at UK festivals - something I don't bother partaking in hugely (because I just get sick and boring more than anything else) but a factor you just assume will determine quite a lot of your festival experience...
The brilliance of it was that once we were inside and enjoying the music you just couldn't tell at all. The whole thing was a lot more civilised and respectable, but people were dancing and enjoying the music just as much.
That's not to say the concept would work in the UK - I think we're probably too accustomed to the way we do things to loosen up enough to enjoy ourselves at a concert or festival without the boozey atmosphere... It really does give you a license to let your hair down, even if you're not drunk yourself.
Two tip top highlights:
1) the Movistar Arena
I had no idea that the "LG Stage" was the arena where U2 played a few weeks ago - it is GIGANTIC. Like the biggest festival tent you can imagine, with 2 tiers running the whole way round that fit in probably as many people as are on the ground floor itself. And the sound system was immense. We saw Fat Boy Slim play on Saturday night there and it was rammed and incredible.
2) Chico Trujillo
This band is the best thing musically I have discovered all year. They are so fun and awesome and just brilliant.
Here is a song with minimal words but you will catch the vibezzzz.
'Con la pollera amarilla' - with the yellow skirt.
The classics: Medallita, Loca, La Escoba.
I haven't danced so hard in like, 6 months. ie. Since I've been away from London.
IT FELT GOOD.
Phil has some funny videos of us jumping around like loons.
Also might steal some of his photos to show y'all as I failed to take a camera.
All in all it was FUN.
Now I'm back to my essays... A boring week in front of the laptop. It's a good time to skype me!
XOX
Let's just say that the whole thing was a complete shambles in the run up. Like, extraordinarily so. Their website was a total waste of time, giving no information about anything at all. I ended up having to do twitter searches to find details about most things that they had not explained.
I quite frankly cannot bring myself to explain to you the horror that it was - I think I may still be a touch traumatised and don't want to reopen my wounds.
The healing process was hugely and incredibly aided by the festival itself. Which almost makes me crosser because the thing was worth it!
One thing I will mention is that there was no alcohol at all on site, neither allowed to be brought in nor sold (unless you forked out for a VIP ticket). However, this info only came out through one of my twitter searches and the rumour mill at Santiago Times via Phil. So in our minds we were thinking "how on earth can they possibly imagine having a festival without booze?!?!" I guess that says a lot about drinking culture at UK festivals - something I don't bother partaking in hugely (because I just get sick and boring more than anything else) but a factor you just assume will determine quite a lot of your festival experience...
The brilliance of it was that once we were inside and enjoying the music you just couldn't tell at all. The whole thing was a lot more civilised and respectable, but people were dancing and enjoying the music just as much.
That's not to say the concept would work in the UK - I think we're probably too accustomed to the way we do things to loosen up enough to enjoy ourselves at a concert or festival without the boozey atmosphere... It really does give you a license to let your hair down, even if you're not drunk yourself.
Two tip top highlights:
1) the Movistar Arena
I had no idea that the "LG Stage" was the arena where U2 played a few weeks ago - it is GIGANTIC. Like the biggest festival tent you can imagine, with 2 tiers running the whole way round that fit in probably as many people as are on the ground floor itself. And the sound system was immense. We saw Fat Boy Slim play on Saturday night there and it was rammed and incredible.
2) Chico Trujillo
This band is the best thing musically I have discovered all year. They are so fun and awesome and just brilliant.
Here is a song with minimal words but you will catch the vibezzzz.
'Con la pollera amarilla' - with the yellow skirt.
The classics: Medallita, Loca, La Escoba.
I haven't danced so hard in like, 6 months. ie. Since I've been away from London.
IT FELT GOOD.
Phil has some funny videos of us jumping around like loons.
Also might steal some of his photos to show y'all as I failed to take a camera.
All in all it was FUN.
Now I'm back to my essays... A boring week in front of the laptop. It's a good time to skype me!
XOX
Friday, 1 April 2011
heard it through the
Flo getting interviewed by her own boyfriend for Dazed and Confused, and a very cool version of Heard It Through The Grapevine. Really loving it.
Going to Lollapalooza tomorrow - Phil wrote an article on it which quotes me (lol): check it out.
Updates after the weekend!
Going to Lollapalooza tomorrow - Phil wrote an article on it which quotes me (lol): check it out.
Updates after the weekend!
Thursday, 31 March 2011
procrastinaction?
Got my essay ball rolling now... And just today received an email from the King's Spanish department kindly notifying me that the written exam for our year abroad, which we all thought was to take place in September, has actually been put online and we are all to do it and hand it in at the same time as our essays.
Bloomin marvelous.
So as an absolute distraction from my fury at the King's dept (which I will not explain, ie. starting ranting about, I will not), and procrastination from the work itself, [procrastinaction?] here is something visually enticing that has nothing to do with anything.
Just love it. Love it all.
Bloomin marvelous.
So as an absolute distraction from my fury at the King's dept (which I will not explain, ie. starting ranting about, I will not), and procrastination from the work itself, [procrastinaction?] here is something visually enticing that has nothing to do with anything.
Photos from a Vogue Italia editorial, named Love is in the Hair (May 2010).
Just love it. Love it all.
Wednesday, 30 March 2011
happy birthday miss daisy walker!
She's so cool that she is literally spending her birthday in the dessert. [To, y'know, warm up a bit. Gotta keep the circulation going I suppose. Coolness can become life threatening?]
Here are some things you should know about her.
- Nicknamed Daisin, because she loves raisins.
- Dreamt a word into existence: Bigaboo, which now graces my favourite birthday present mug that I have here in Chile. Having to explain it means the word has spread to South America. [International acknowledgment must be of value to the OED... Definitely gonna get it in there one day.]
- Has been blonde, brown and red headed in the last 18 months.
- Is a very wonderful poet [betcha didn't know it] - MAKE THEM PUBLIC THE WORLD DESERVES TO KNOW!!!
- She buys me underwear and it's not awkward. That's the kind of gal she is / weirdly open friendship we have.
- Alcohol makes an undetectable difference to her behaviour. She's just permanently drunk on life, ok?
- Seriously amazing actress. Even when, as happened last year, she is so ill she probably should be hospitalised due to severe illness - seriously woman, how much of a natural are you??
- Does her name proud and walks like a walking machine - ie. a Walker. Haha?
- Is pretty much Santiago's go to girl about the Royal Wedding right now. Check out this article that she put together about Kate's dress.
- IS TWENTY ONE TODAY!!!
It's amazing, I know I could have said a lot more... But it's probably really weird and stalkerish to anyone who hasn't had the immense pleasure of actually meeting her?
Anyway, Daisy. Here is a "present" for you...
Here are some things you should know about her.
- Nicknamed Daisin, because she loves raisins.
- Dreamt a word into existence: Bigaboo, which now graces my favourite birthday present mug that I have here in Chile. Having to explain it means the word has spread to South America. [International acknowledgment must be of value to the OED... Definitely gonna get it in there one day.]
- Has been blonde, brown and red headed in the last 18 months.
- Is a very wonderful poet [betcha didn't know it] - MAKE THEM PUBLIC THE WORLD DESERVES TO KNOW!!!
- She buys me underwear and it's not awkward. That's the kind of gal she is / weirdly open friendship we have.
- Alcohol makes an undetectable difference to her behaviour. She's just permanently drunk on life, ok?
- Seriously amazing actress. Even when, as happened last year, she is so ill she probably should be hospitalised due to severe illness - seriously woman, how much of a natural are you??
- Does her name proud and walks like a walking machine - ie. a Walker. Haha?
- Is pretty much Santiago's go to girl about the Royal Wedding right now. Check out this article that she put together about Kate's dress.
- IS TWENTY ONE TODAY!!!
It's amazing, I know I could have said a lot more... But it's probably really weird and stalkerish to anyone who hasn't had the immense pleasure of actually meeting her?
Anyway, Daisy. Here is a "present" for you...
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
birthday lists pt. 6
For those of you who don't know, I am a very huge stalker fan of a young lady by the name of Grace Helbig. She is a youtube gal who puts out a video every weekday on her channel DailyGrace. I don't know what it is about her. I mean yes, she is funny, but maybe it's also the regularity of her videos, that in the end even when she's not being funny I still find her videos either hilarious or just endearing or something... Like she's my silly friend who I actually know.. Oh that's so Grace. Typical of you, Grace. Haha there goes Grace again.
It's not very cool of me, is it, really, no.
Anyway. Every Tuesday she puts out a video where she comments on comments that have been made on her various internet outputs. And when a new "viewser" comments she "hazes the crap out them to welcome them to the DailyGrace family"... I'll let her explain:
Today's video..
Therefore - my next birthday list addition is this.
It's not very cool of me, is it, really, no.
Anyway. Every Tuesday she puts out a video where she comments on comments that have been made on her various internet outputs. And when a new "viewser" comments she "hazes the crap out them to welcome them to the DailyGrace family"... I'll let her explain:
Today's video..
Therefore - my next birthday list addition is this.
That's right. A DailyGrace tshirt. Which handily comes on sale 5 days before my birthday. I'm not into merchandise but I am so. getting. this.
Monday, 28 March 2011
blackberry art
Found this photo from my old blackberry. The blackberry camera is so good. And my brain is so weird.
Sunday, 27 March 2011
spiders
Just when I thought I was beyond being afraid of spiders... Turns out there's the Chilean recluse spider. It is super, super, dangerous. It bites you and you have to put ice on it to stop the venom moving round your body too fast, and get to the hospital pronto. It forms an ulcer that destroys soft tissue, but the bite may not be visible for up to seven hours after being received. The wound can become as big as 10 inches. 3-4% of cases result in death according to a study in Chile.
This guy can be from 8-40mm in size. Apparently to be absolutely sure that it is what it is, you should see if it has 6 eyes instead of the standard 8. Yeah right, like I'm getting that close to it, are you mad???
The spider likes the dark, hence being called the "corner spider", and can be found hiding behind picture frames or behind furniture. They don't bite unless they feel attacked. But they do sometimes crawl into clothes, especially if they're in a heap on the floor (like mine often are) or into beds. In these situations you attempting to use said item would be considered an attack.
Zelma was telling me last night that they are really quite common here, and the general attitude is if you see a spider, kill it. Feeling pretty grateful right now that I haven't been bitten to be honest, because I had a spider roomsharing with me for like 3 weeks, and just last week I picked up my hoody and there was a spider in it. I shook it out and let it go.
Unfortunately for me, I'm one of those people that upon hearing something, whether it be someone talking about bugs, or having a headache, or feeling like they're gonna throw up, I immediately think I feel the same thing. Last night in bed I was certain there were spiders in there with me. Not helpful.
When I was told about this last night my face of surprise was greeted with "what, so you haven't heard about this before?"
Um, NO.
Thanks for telling me, I suppose... Better late than never!
This guy can be from 8-40mm in size. Apparently to be absolutely sure that it is what it is, you should see if it has 6 eyes instead of the standard 8. Yeah right, like I'm getting that close to it, are you mad???
The spider likes the dark, hence being called the "corner spider", and can be found hiding behind picture frames or behind furniture. They don't bite unless they feel attacked. But they do sometimes crawl into clothes, especially if they're in a heap on the floor (like mine often are) or into beds. In these situations you attempting to use said item would be considered an attack.
Zelma was telling me last night that they are really quite common here, and the general attitude is if you see a spider, kill it. Feeling pretty grateful right now that I haven't been bitten to be honest, because I had a spider roomsharing with me for like 3 weeks, and just last week I picked up my hoody and there was a spider in it. I shook it out and let it go.
Unfortunately for me, I'm one of those people that upon hearing something, whether it be someone talking about bugs, or having a headache, or feeling like they're gonna throw up, I immediately think I feel the same thing. Last night in bed I was certain there were spiders in there with me. Not helpful.
When I was told about this last night my face of surprise was greeted with "what, so you haven't heard about this before?"
Um, NO.
Thanks for telling me, I suppose... Better late than never!
Saturday, 26 March 2011
spanglish
I suppose the really good thing about having been here for almost 6 months is that I now forget what language I had a certain conversation in, or what language that article was in, or if we had subtitles on that film... That's not to say that I am 100% fluent; not by any means. But when I compare how I feel (or how I lack of feel) now, to how I did when I first arrived, it is seriously incredible.
I had a constant headache for a week straight when I first arrived just listening to Spanish all day. Watching television was absolutely no way to relax either, and unless I was paying someone 150% of my attention I had no idea what they were talking about. Making out words or themes in conversations that I wasn't involved in (background noise type stuff) was absolutely impossible.
It's definitely not as hard in church type situations where for instance you might split into groups to read a passage and think about certain things to do with it. In that scenario there is a context and you know that everything you hear will have something to do with what's in front of you. But just having a chat with someone can be a completely different matter. They can be telling you about their sister in Hawaii and then suddenly be reminded of this funny thing they saw on TV where this cat licked a tennis ball and chased it around the supermarket while dancing like a small monkey. In that situation, you might be screwed. Not only is your friend not so great a conversationist, but, oh wait hey, you realised YOU SUCK AT SPANISH.
When we went to Argentina last week I had a slight flashback as a guy in the hostel started chatting to me in [Argentinian] Spanish about his views on life [standard banter] and being t-total and consumerism and addiction etc. It was SO much easier to understand than Chilean Spanish -
a) because Chileans speak bad Spanish, and b) because, and I think this really could be true, once you understand Chilean Spanish you'll understand any accent the Spanish speaking world can throw at you.
- but it still brought back those memories of concentrating so hard just to work out the words that are actually coming at you, let along processing the deep philosophical/religious/life story point of the conversation. And then replying.
So, in short, I'm feeling super grateful that I can actually follow a conversation and reply with what I want to say without having a literal brainache. I am getting better at understanding jokes now too, which I take to be a very good sign!
¿Cachai?
I had a constant headache for a week straight when I first arrived just listening to Spanish all day. Watching television was absolutely no way to relax either, and unless I was paying someone 150% of my attention I had no idea what they were talking about. Making out words or themes in conversations that I wasn't involved in (background noise type stuff) was absolutely impossible.
It's definitely not as hard in church type situations where for instance you might split into groups to read a passage and think about certain things to do with it. In that scenario there is a context and you know that everything you hear will have something to do with what's in front of you. But just having a chat with someone can be a completely different matter. They can be telling you about their sister in Hawaii and then suddenly be reminded of this funny thing they saw on TV where this cat licked a tennis ball and chased it around the supermarket while dancing like a small monkey. In that situation, you might be screwed. Not only is your friend not so great a conversationist, but, oh wait hey, you realised YOU SUCK AT SPANISH.
When we went to Argentina last week I had a slight flashback as a guy in the hostel started chatting to me in [Argentinian] Spanish about his views on life [standard banter] and being t-total and consumerism and addiction etc. It was SO much easier to understand than Chilean Spanish -
a) because Chileans speak bad Spanish, and b) because, and I think this really could be true, once you understand Chilean Spanish you'll understand any accent the Spanish speaking world can throw at you.
- but it still brought back those memories of concentrating so hard just to work out the words that are actually coming at you, let along processing the deep philosophical/religious/life story point of the conversation. And then replying.
So, in short, I'm feeling super grateful that I can actually follow a conversation and reply with what I want to say without having a literal brainache. I am getting better at understanding jokes now too, which I take to be a very good sign!
¿Cachai?
Wednesday, 23 March 2011
birthday lists pt. 5
A FREAKIN' CHOW CHOW.
We saw this guy in Mendoza over the weekend. Pretty much made the entire trip worth it. He was surprisingly well-groomed actually, like his bear hair had actually met a brush and had a trim and all. But the blue tongue was the giveaway, and thank God Phil was there to man up and ask the owner if it was indeed a chow chow. Which led her to say "look how funny he looks like this" and got him sat upright on his back paws. He hardcore looked like a bear it was amazing.
My love of chow chows started when Joj and I stayed with a family who had one during a school trip to Spain. She was black and immense and called Lola (meant to be) and was just awesome. And huge and fluffy and a BEAR.
Definitely definitely definitely going to be my first dog.
Lily knows.
Tuesday, 22 March 2011
fruit
YES this is about fruit.
There are fun fruits here that people eat and make jam out of and make tarts with and they are pretty yummy.
We have a quince, or membrillo, tree growing in Zelma's garden and when the summer holidays are out kids buzz the buzzer loads asking for fruit from it. Having lived a sheltered London life my only experience of quince was of that "jelly" that slightly weird archaic people eat with cheese? [It is worth noting that I am now incredibly into eating sweet stuff with cheese. Quince jelly, any kind of jam, and honey too.]
Sadly for quince, it does tend to look a bit like apple's slightly deformed cousin...
Haven't had one on it's own yet, which I feel sort of ashamed about, what with the tree outside... Zelma's downstairs making something out of what remains of this year's batch right now, jam I think.
There's also the custard apple, chirimoya. It goes so well with oranges that when you have them together it's called chirimoya alegre (meaning happy).
It has a soft, almost milky, taste but in a nice fresh way, and it has a really soft and melty flesh that you can kind of rip off of the fruit. I haven't had anything like it before.
There are fun fruits here that people eat and make jam out of and make tarts with and they are pretty yummy.
We have a quince, or membrillo, tree growing in Zelma's garden and when the summer holidays are out kids buzz the buzzer loads asking for fruit from it. Having lived a sheltered London life my only experience of quince was of that "jelly" that slightly weird archaic people eat with cheese? [It is worth noting that I am now incredibly into eating sweet stuff with cheese. Quince jelly, any kind of jam, and honey too.]
Sadly for quince, it does tend to look a bit like apple's slightly deformed cousin...
Membrillo - quince
Haven't had one on it's own yet, which I feel sort of ashamed about, what with the tree outside... Zelma's downstairs making something out of what remains of this year's batch right now, jam I think.
There's also the custard apple, chirimoya. It goes so well with oranges that when you have them together it's called chirimoya alegre (meaning happy).
It has a soft, almost milky, taste but in a nice fresh way, and it has a really soft and melty flesh that you can kind of rip off of the fruit. I haven't had anything like it before.
Chirimoya - custard apple
There's also lúcuma, which I haven't tried actually, I know it first and foremost as an ice cream flavour [which is delish]. They sell it everywhere. Now looking at the photo I'm pretty sure I haven't seen them for sale as fruit in as many places as I have seen it frozen and in a tub next to Carte D'or.
Lúcuma - eggfruit (apparently?)
Another real ice cream fave is mora crema, mora being blackberry.
They also have non-furry peaches, and the very flavoursome durazno plátano (literally banana peach?), which are smaller peaches with a more white and pink colour scheme going on, rather than, well, peach. A favourite of Zelma's.
Durazno plátano
Ary and Danny have nisperos in their garden - loquats. The skins can be a little bit sharp so some peel them off before eating them. The stones are pretty big, really smooth and hard. The dogs eat them loads, sometimes a bit too much...
Nispero - loquat
Anyhow. That was a post about fruit. I doubt I shall do one ever again.
Monday, 21 March 2011
manic monday
Obama is in Chile; unsurprisingly it's all over the news like a rash.
Doing a little catching up on the BBC news website, however, revealed to me
that Chile has actually already signed the nuclear agreement with the US
- it was meant to be done publicly on this visit,
but they decided to do it behind closed doors a few days ago...
Despite this: "The Chilean government has stressed the deal was about
training nuclear engineers and not building a reactor."
And the Chilean Foreign Minister Alfredo Moreno said
"Chile is not in a condition to have nuclear energy and
what has happened in Japan has done nothing more than underline that situation."
People still pretty irked about it though.
I finally got round to donating to an emergency relief fund for Japan.
I was doing some online window shopping which was
about to turn into actual shopping when I realised I did not need any
of the stuff in my basket and there was definitely a better place for my money to go...
Today I found Nihon Kizuna. It's a 50 track compilation album up for download
with music from all over the world, of the bass music variety,
and all the proceeds go to the Japanese Red Cross.
The album costs £10, but you can pay as much as you like for it.
Doing a little catching up on the BBC news website, however, revealed to me
that Chile has actually already signed the nuclear agreement with the US
- it was meant to be done publicly on this visit,
but they decided to do it behind closed doors a few days ago...
Despite this: "The Chilean government has stressed the deal was about
training nuclear engineers and not building a reactor."
And the Chilean Foreign Minister Alfredo Moreno said
"Chile is not in a condition to have nuclear energy and
what has happened in Japan has done nothing more than underline that situation."
People still pretty irked about it though.
I've been hearing weird stories about nuclear reactors being put into the sea
and contaminating the fish and how I now shouldn't eat fish
and avoid rain because rain is giving people cancer.
If anyone can confirm or deny these rumours I'd very much appreciate it
because my source is freaking me out.
Luckily the Beeb doesn't seem to support any of these rumours.
But I might muy an umbrella just in case?
and contaminating the fish and how I now shouldn't eat fish
and avoid rain because rain is giving people cancer.
If anyone can confirm or deny these rumours I'd very much appreciate it
because my source is freaking me out.
Luckily the Beeb doesn't seem to support any of these rumours.
But I might muy an umbrella just in case?
I finally got round to donating to an emergency relief fund for Japan.
I was doing some online window shopping which was
about to turn into actual shopping when I realised I did not need any
of the stuff in my basket and there was definitely a better place for my money to go...
Today I found Nihon Kizuna. It's a 50 track compilation album up for download
with music from all over the world, of the bass music variety,
and all the proceeds go to the Japanese Red Cross.
The album costs £10, but you can pay as much as you like for it.
Turns out there were two tremors last week, of which I felt neither.
One on Wednesday at about 7pm, when Phil and I were on out way to Daisy's flat.
We got there and Daisy said "Woah, did you guys feel the terremoto?!"
and we kind of just said "erm, no??"
We think we might have actually been in the lift up to her apartment when it happened.
The second one I slept through. Typical. Leaving my only terremoto
experience as one time when I thought someone was
kicking my chair gently from behind.
Weirdly enough I also experienced a similar thing in the UK
(remember that one time we had an earthquake!?!?)
But seriously. I'm not complaining.
I'm by no means wishing a full on earthquake would happen right now.
And, good news, Ary is out of hospital. She came out on Friday which is great.
She is still not 100%, as that can only really be the case by a miracle,
or the surgery necessary to rid her of the diverticulitis
(which she has been on the waiting list for since her first hospitalization for it
about a year and a half ago).
So please keep praying for her health.
Sunday, 20 March 2011
andes
After near on 9 hour journeys there and back, we arrived back from our visa motivated trip to Mendoza, Argentina, last night.
All turned out fab - only downside being feeling a bit ill in the run up to the trip and while there dissuading me from eating steak and drinking red wine in abundance.
It's definitely a lot more European from what we saw, confirming rumours I had already heard. Generally Mendoza went down a real treat, but perhaps in the sense that everything felt that tiny bit more familiar, which is the sense of making the most of being on the other side of the world is probably not the right reason to wish you were living there in Argie and not here in Chile. [Clearly these are huge generalisations.]
The Andes were absolutely stunning. Particularly on the Argentinian side [I'm not being biased about this, I promise] - on the way there the sun had already set by the time we got out of border control, so I made the most of the way back by snapping photos the whole way. The mountains and the rocks became hypnotic, to the point things like 'wow, rocks are really underrated' and 'why didn't I consider geology as a career option?' started coming to my mind.
These photos don't even begin to communicate the awesomeness of being surrounded by mountains for what must have been about 10 hours in total.
All turned out fab - only downside being feeling a bit ill in the run up to the trip and while there dissuading me from eating steak and drinking red wine in abundance.
It's definitely a lot more European from what we saw, confirming rumours I had already heard. Generally Mendoza went down a real treat, but perhaps in the sense that everything felt that tiny bit more familiar, which is the sense of making the most of being on the other side of the world is probably not the right reason to wish you were living there in Argie and not here in Chile. [Clearly these are huge generalisations.]
The Andes were absolutely stunning. Particularly on the Argentinian side [I'm not being biased about this, I promise] - on the way there the sun had already set by the time we got out of border control, so I made the most of the way back by snapping photos the whole way. The mountains and the rocks became hypnotic, to the point things like 'wow, rocks are really underrated' and 'why didn't I consider geology as a career option?' started coming to my mind.
These photos don't even begin to communicate the awesomeness of being surrounded by mountains for what must have been about 10 hours in total.
Wednesday, 16 March 2011
going to mendoza
Yeah, that's about it. Heading to STG now, then to Mendoza with Phil and a colleague of his. Mendoza is the closest town outside of Chile to where we are - the perfect destination for renewing your 90 day tourist visa.
Back Sunday!
Pray our visas go ok...
Mucho cariño.
XOX
PS. Nearest and dearest - I have my UK mobile with me if you need to contact me or want to check I'm alive for any reason. And no, I didn't forget my passport. Yet.
Back Sunday!
Pray our visas go ok...
Mucho cariño.
XOX
PS. Nearest and dearest - I have my UK mobile with me if you need to contact me or want to check I'm alive for any reason. And no, I didn't forget my passport. Yet.
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
love
We've looked at 1 Corinthians 13 a couple of times in the last week at various groups at church, by chance and in different contexts.
It's the most famous passage in the Bible about love, hands down [see below to read it].
It seems to me that it gets used and referred to so often at, for example, weddings, that we tend to link it only with romantic love [particularly verses 4-8a]. Like it's describing the kind of love we should have for our other half.
Obviously that is completely true.
But it's not just talking about a romantic love. The word for this kind of love that was used in the Greek, was agape. It is the same word agape that is used in John 3:16-
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
It's the same love we refer to when we read that "God is love." [1 John 4:8]
It's the most famous passage in the Bible about love, hands down [see below to read it].
It seems to me that it gets used and referred to so often at, for example, weddings, that we tend to link it only with romantic love [particularly verses 4-8a]. Like it's describing the kind of love we should have for our other half.
Obviously that is completely true.
But it's not just talking about a romantic love. The word for this kind of love that was used in the Greek, was agape. It is the same word agape that is used in John 3:16-
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
There are a lot of complex historic, semantic and theological issues that go behind all of this, but just as a surface observation, it was refreshing, enlightening and in a good sense challenging (the Bible does tend to be so) to read the passage again without a rom-com scenario playing out in my head.
Enjoy.
Enjoy.
1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Monday, 14 March 2011
nuclear
For those who don't know...
In the midst of the the aftermath of the 11/3 in Japan, Chile is still considering nuclear energy (bear in mind that like Japan, Chile is a seismic country). Obama is coming next week - and, not that I know much about it, there are talks of a nuclear agreement between the USA and Chile.
Anyhow, here's a short opinion piece from the Santiago Times, where Phil works.
Seems absurd to me.
In the midst of the the aftermath of the 11/3 in Japan, Chile is still considering nuclear energy (bear in mind that like Japan, Chile is a seismic country). Obama is coming next week - and, not that I know much about it, there are talks of a nuclear agreement between the USA and Chile.
Anyhow, here's a short opinion piece from the Santiago Times, where Phil works.
Seems absurd to me.
Sunday, 13 March 2011
twinings 4 lyf
Just opened a new box of Earl Grey brought over from the UK.
(Yes it is available here but it feels so much better knowing it's come from home...)
Dedicated to Ms. Daisy Walker.
calm
There have been no reports of deaths nor injuries through the whole of Chile following the country's experience of the tsunami.
I think the atmosphere here is very much of gratitude for the long period of warning and preparation. There didn't seem to be much panic - people abandoned the coastlines calmly and without frenzy at all, although there were stories of people in the areas worst hit last year taking as many of their belongings as they physically could out of their homes and up and beyond the hills.
After last year's events that doesn't seem surprisingly.
It seems that shall be all for my posting about this weekend's occurrences and their effect on Chile.
In other news, this coming weekend I shall hopefully be going to Mendoza - for visa renewal purposes, but also making the most of a weekend away eating Argentinian food with Phil. Who by the way has succumbed to the blogworld - albeit in a subtle tumblr disguise... Checkit.
Over and out.
XO
I think the atmosphere here is very much of gratitude for the long period of warning and preparation. There didn't seem to be much panic - people abandoned the coastlines calmly and without frenzy at all, although there were stories of people in the areas worst hit last year taking as many of their belongings as they physically could out of their homes and up and beyond the hills.
After last year's events that doesn't seem surprisingly.
It seems that shall be all for my posting about this weekend's occurrences and their effect on Chile.
In other news, this coming weekend I shall hopefully be going to Mendoza - for visa renewal purposes, but also making the most of a weekend away eating Argentinian food with Phil. Who by the way has succumbed to the blogworld - albeit in a subtle tumblr disguise... Checkit.
Over and out.
XO
Saturday, 12 March 2011
tsunami
The tsunami alert has officially been lifted throughout the whole of Chile.
Last night the tsunami hit some of the same coastal towns in the South. Talcahuano and Dichato were affected - two of the worst hit towns by the tsunami last year.
In Dichato there are reports that the water went up to 200 metres inland.
Lots of love
X
Last night the tsunami hit some of the same coastal towns in the South. Talcahuano and Dichato were affected - two of the worst hit towns by the tsunami last year.
In Dichato there are reports that the water went up to 200 metres inland.
Puerto Viejo, in Caldera, a town in the North (that was not affected in last year's earthquake) had about 80 houses of fishermen destroyed when the waves hit.
In Iquique, in the North too, there were people on the beach sunbathing, hanging out, jogging, even surfing... before the alert was lifted. And even now they have lifted the alert they are still maintaining a state of evacuation of the beaches because the sea is still rising and falling metres. They interviewed one woman who was sunbathing who said that she didn't see why she shouldn't be on the beach. If she saw the waves coming she would run.
Meanwhile, off the coast of Mexico yesterday there was a strange phenomenon, whereby masses of fishes approached the beach. There are so many it looks like an oil slick. Apparently it was somehow linked to the tsunami/earthquake in Japan.
Still no news on the state of Reñaca and Valparaíso on the news... Going to have a twitter stalk to see if I can find any updates.
An article (in English) about the alerts in Latin America... Here on npr.org
Lots of love
X
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